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Trump has responded to that interview on Truth Social, posting one word as the interview ended: “BORING!!!”
Key takeaways: Harris says her values have not changed
In a primetime spot on CNN Thursday evening, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz sat for their first interview together as the Democratic ticket, taking questions from anchor Dana Bash on a range of important issues, including their plans for day 1 if they win the race, the approach to the war in Gaza, and how Joe Biden passed the baton.
Bash pushed Harris on how voters should view some key shifts on important policy positions over the years, including on immigration and the climate crisis. Harris responded resolutely saying her “values have not changed” but explained that experience has provided some new insights.
“As president I will not ban fracking,” Harris said, reversing a position she expressed during her first bid for the presidency. Explaining that she now believes a “thriving clean energy economy” can be built without a ban, Harris highlighted achievements from the Biden administration, including the US’s landmark climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, that have helped set the course. “The climate crisis is real, it is an urgent matter,” she said. “I am very clear about where I stand.”
She also spoke about her work on the border and how she plans to address the immigration crisis. “I believe we have laws that have to be followed and enforced,” she said, adding that she is the only person in the race who has prosecuted transnational criminal organizations, work she did as California’s attorney general.
Kamala Harris sat for her first interview as the Democratic presidential nominee with CNN’s Dana Bash alongside her running mate, Tim Walz, on Thursday, and defended her shifts on certain policy issues over the years and her support for Joe Biden.
In the interview, which was taped from Savannah, Georgia, earlier Thursday, the vice-president said her highest priority upon taking office would be to “support and strengthen the middle class” through policies including increasing the child tax credit, curtailing price gouging on everyday goods and increasing access to affordable housing – all policies that she has announced since she started campaigning for the presidency.
Harris also shared how the president shared with her his decision not to continue running for re-election, a first public retelling of that moment. She said she was making breakfast with her family, including her nieces, and was just sitting down to do a puzzle when the phone rang, she said.
“I asked him, are you sure? And he said yes. And that’s how I learned about it.” As far as whether she asked for his endorsement or he offered it, she said: “He was very clear that he was going to support me.”
“My first thought was not about me, to be honest with you, my first thought was about him,” she said, adding that history will remember Biden’s presidency as transformative.
Harris defended Biden, saying she had no regrets about supporting his re-election before his decision to leave the race, despite concerns over his age and acuity. She said serving as Biden’s vice-president has been “one of the greatest honors” of her career and that Biden has the “intelligence, commitment, judgement and disposition that the American people deserve in their president”, adding that the former president, Donald Trump, “has none of that”.
At a town hall event in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on Thursday night, Donald Trump and former Democratic congressperson Tulsi Gabbard, now a Trump campaign surrogate, attempted to pitch themselves to the crowd as supporters of reproductive rights.
Gabbard, who moderated the event after endorsing the former president earlier this week, opened the town hall with emotional remarks about her experience with in vitro fertilization. The comments came shortly after Trump said in an NBC interview that he would make the government or insurance companies pay for IVF if he’s elected, although it’s unclear how he would accomplish that or if he’s serious about the proposal given the pivotal role he played in overturning Roe v Wade.
Alice Herman reports:
Key takeaways from Harris-Walz interview
Here are some of the key lines from Kamala Harris and Tim Walz’s CNN interview, their first since Harris became the Democratic party’s presidential nominee.
Asked what she would do on day one in the White House if she was elected, Harris said that she would focus on her “opportunity economy” plan to bring down the cost of everyday goods.
Harris said she would not ban fracking if she became president. Asked why she had changed her previous position on fracking, Harris said “my values have not changed”.
Asked why the Biden administration did not act sooner to cut down on border crossings, Harris side-stepped the question and instead blamed Donald Trump for telling his allies to kill a bipartisan border bill.
Harris said she believes “there should be consequence” to illegal border crossings, a change in her position from 2020 when she agreed with a statement that illegal border crossings should be decriminalized.
Harris said she would name a Republican to her cabinet if she was elected to the White House.
Asked about Trump’s insulting claim that she “turned Black”, Harris replied: “Same old, tired playbook. Next question, please.”
Harris did not express any policy differences from Biden on the issue of the US’s position on Israel’s war in Gaza. Harris said she is “unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself” adding: “That’s not going to change.”
Walz clarified previous statements he made about his military service and the infertility treatment his wife underwent in becoming pregnant with their children.
Harris said she was sitting down to do a puzzle with her nieces when she found out that Biden was stepping aside. “The phone rang. And it was Joe Biden. And – and he told me what he had decided to do. And – I asked him, ‘Are you sure?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’”
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Donald Trump, at a town hall event in La Crosse, Wisconsin, repeated his usual talking points on immigration and the economy.
In response to a question about job opportunities for young people, Trump blamed immigrants, saying there had been “no job creation” from Joe Biden and falsely claiming that all new jobs “were filled by illegal immigrants”.
Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congressperson turned Trump campaign surrogate, denounced “warmongers” and set up Trump to riff on the topic of foreign policy.
As he frequently does, Trump praised Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s authoritarian prime minister, and told the audience that Orbán “said you have to bring Trump back as president of the United States”.
Trump promised later in the evening to “bring back that level of respect” from foreign adversaries, which he claimed he enjoyed during his first term.
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At a town hall event in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on Thursday night, Donald Trump and former Democratic congressperson Tulsi Gabbard, now a Trump campaign surrogate, attempted to pitch themselves to the crowd as supporters of reproductive rights.
Gabbard, who moderated the event after endorsing the former president earlier this week, opened the town hall with emotional remarks about her experience with in vitro fertilization. The comments came shortly after Trump said in an NBC interview that he would make the government or insurance companies pay for IVF if he’s elected, although it’s unclear how he would accomplish that or if he’s serious about the proposal given the pivotal role he played in overturning Roe v Wade.
“We were not successful in trying to get pregnant. For us, IVF seemed to be the only option and the last resort,” said Gabbard, who described to a quiet audience the costly and at times painful fertility treatment process she said she underwent 10 years ago.
Following Gabbard’s comments on IVF, Trump reiterated his promise from earlier in the day. Trump said:
We wanna produce babies in this country, right?
By stating his support for IVF and claiming that he would leave abortion laws to the states if elected, Trump is hoping to retain the support of women who count reproductive rights as a top issue – but risks alienating his supporters on the religious right.
CNN has published a full transcript of its interview with Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz.
The interview was Harris’s first since ascending to the top of the Democratic ticket.
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Trump asks federal court to take over hush-money criminal case
Lawyers for Donald Trump filed a petition seeking a federal court to intervene in his New York hush-money criminal case, in an attempt to overturn his felony conviction and indefinitely delay his sentencing scheduled for next month.
In a petition filed late on Thursday, Trump’s lawyers argued that the prosecution violated the former president’s constitutional rights and ran afoul of the supreme court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.
If the case is moved to federal court, Trump’s lawyers wrote, they will then seek to have the verdict overturned and the case dismissed.
If the case remains in state court, with sentencing proceeding as scheduled, it could amount to election interference, they said.
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Kamala Harris has never met or spoken with Donald Trump in person, CNN’s Dana Bash noted in the interview.
Aside from attending Trump’s State of the Union addresses during his time as president, Harris has never been in the same room as him, according to the New York Times.
Donald Trump had just one thing to say about his opponents’ CNN interview:
One viewer’s feedback: pic.twitter.com/Kwtyab3ldB
— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) August 30, 2024
Walz says he is 'so proud' of son Gus when asked about emotional moment at convention
Tim Walz is asked about the moment during the Democratic national convention when his son, Gus, was seen tearing up and saying: “That’s my dad.”
Walz says it was important to have his son “feel a sense of pride” that he was “trying to do the right thing”.
You try to protect your kids, you know it brings notoriety and things but it was such a visceral emotional moment. I’m grateful I got to experience and I’m so proud of him.
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Harris recounts moment Joe Biden told her he was dropping out of race
Kamala Harris is asked to discuss the moment she learned Joe Biden was stepping aside from the presidential race.
Harris says she was with her family at the time, including her baby nieces and had just had pancakes and bacon. She says:
The phone rang and it was Joe Biden and he told me what he had decided to do and I asked him, ‘Are you sure?’ And he said ‘yes’ and that’s how I learned about it.
Asked whether she asked for Biden’s endorsement, Harris says the president “was very clear that he was going to support me”.
She says that when Biden called her, her first thought “was not about me”, adding: “My first thought was about him, to be honest.”
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Harris says she has no regrets defending Biden's ability to serve
Kamala Harris is asked if she has any regrets about previously telling the American people about Joe Biden’s capacity to serve another four years as president.
Harris says “not at all”, and that serving with Biden has been “one of the greatest honors of my career”.
Biden “cares so deeply about the American people”, and is “so smart and loyal”, Harris says.
He has the intelligence, the commitment, judgment and disposition that I think the American people rightly deserve in their president. By contrast, the former president has none of that.
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Tim Walz says that Republicans are either attacking him for his children “for showing love” or it’s “an attack on my dog”.
Walz is also asked to clarify earlier statements he made about his family’s experiences using in vitro fertilization to conceive a child.
Walz’s wife, Gwen Walz, earlier this month said that she did not use in vitro fertilization to conceive, but rather a different fertility treatment called intrauterine insemination (IUI).
Walz tells CNN’s Dana Bash that he spoke about his and his wife’s infertility issues “because it’s hell, and families know this”.
I spoke about the treatments that were available to us … That’s quite a contrast in folks that are trying to take those rights away from us.
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Walz says his military record 'speaks for itself'
Tim Walz is asked to clarify previous comments he and his campaign has made about his time serving in the army national guard.
In a 2018 video clip, Walz spoke out about against gun violence and said, “We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at.” He subsequently apologized and said it was a misstatement.
Walz was in the army national guard for 24 years, in infantry and artillery, deploying in response to natural disasters on US soil and to Europe in support of operations in Afghanistan. He retired in 2005, to run for Congress, shortly before his unit deployed to Iraq.
Walz says he is “incredibly proud” of the 24 years he served wearing the uniform of this country and that his record “speaks for itself”.
He tells CNN that he speaks “candidly”, adding that he wears his “emotions on my sleeves”. “My record has been out there for over 40 years,” he adds.
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Kamala Harris is asked about a previous policy position from 2019, when she agreed with a statement that illegal border crossings should be decriminalized.
“I believe there should be consequence,” she told CNN’s Dana Bash.
We have laws that have to be followed and enforced that address and deal with people across our border illegally, and there should be consequences.
Harris reiterates commitment to Israel's right to defend itself and push for Gaza ceasefire
Kamala Harris is asked if she would do anything differently than Joe Biden in the US’s position on Israel’s war in Gaza.
Harris says she is “unequivocal and unwavering” in her “commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself”, adding: “That’s not gonna change.”
She says “far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed”, and that “we have got to get a deal done”.
This war must end, and we must get a deal that is about getting the hostages out.
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Harris says Trump's comments on her racial identity are 'same old tired playbook'
Kamala Harris is asked about Donald Trump’s questioning of her racial identity, to which she responds that it is part of the “same old tired playbook”.
During a panel hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) last month, Trump questioned Harris’s race, saying: “She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black.”
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Harris says she would appoint a Republican in her cabinet
Kamala Harris expressed openness to appointing a Republican into her cabinet. “I’ve got 68 days to go with this election, so I’m not putting the cart before the horse,” Harris told CNN.
I think it’s really important. I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion. I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my cabinet who was a Republican.
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Harris accuses Trump of killing bipartisan border bill for political gain
On the subject of immigration, Kamala Harris accused Donald Trump of killing a bipartisan border bill earlier this year.
Harris was asked why the Biden administration waited more than three years to implement sweeping asylum instructions. Harris side-stepped the question, and said:
Trump got word of this bill that would have contributed to securing our border and because he believed it would not have helped him politically, he told his folks in Congress, ‘Don’t put it forward.’
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Kamala Harris acknowledged that “prices, in particular for groceries, are still too high” as she pointed to the progress that she and Joe Biden made on the economy.
The economy had crashed – in large part all of that because of mismanagement by Donald Trump of that crisis. When we came in, our highest priority was to do what we could to rescue America.
Harris noted her proposal for the first-ever federal ban on price gouging on food and groceries, as well as her plan to provide up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homeowners.
Harris says her values 'have not changed' despite policy reversals
Kamala Harris is asked to explain why her positions have changed on policies such as fracking and decriminalizing illegal border crossings.
Harris says “let’s be clear – my values have not changed”, adding:
I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed. You mentioned the Green New Deal. I have always believed – and I have worked on it – that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time.
Harris says she will not ban fracking
CNN’s Dana Bash says fracking is an important issue in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania.
She points to Kamala Harris’s previous statements where she said she was in favor of banning fracking. Does Harris still want to ban fracking? Harris says:
No, and I made that clear on the debate stage in 2020 that I would not ban fracking. As vice-president, I did not ban fracking. As president, I will not ban fracking.
Tim Walz says he is “excited” about Kamala Harris’s agenda about implementing an “opportunity economy”.
Walz says he shares many of the same values as Harris.
Harris says she would bring 'down the cost of everyday goods'
Kamala Harris says that on day one of being in the White House, she would focus on “implementing my plan for what I call an opportunity economy”.
She says she has already laid out a number of proposals in that regard, including what she will do to “bring down the cost of everyday goods”, “to invest in America’s small businesses”, and “to invest in families”, including extending the child tax credit to $6,000 for families for the first year of their child’s life.
Harris pledges to focus on “investing in the American family”.
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CNN’s Dana Bash tells Kamala Harris that she has less time to make her case to voters than any candidate in modern American history.
Harris is asked what she would do on day one in the White House if she wins the November election.
Harris says “a number of things”:
First and foremost, one of my highest priorities, is to do what we can to support and strengthen the middle class.
Harris says the American people “are ready for a new way forward” and to “turn the page” on the former president Donald Trump.
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Harris and Walz appear on CNN
Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, are now appearing on CNN in their first joint interview since becoming the Democratic presidential and vice-presidential nominees.
Harris and Walz spoke to CNN’s Dana Bash at Kim’s Cafe in Savannah, Georgia, in an interview that was taped earlier today.
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Kamala Harris addressed a boisterous crowd during a campaign rally in Savannah, Georgia, earlier today and told them that despite the state being a stretch, it is still winnable in November.
“Don’t pay attention to polls – we are underdogs,” Harris said, telling the roughly 9,500 attendees that they had “work to do” in order to secure victory.
We don’t mind hard work. Hard work is for workers.
Thousands waited outside for hours as a spitting rain became a steady drizzle, which turned into an outright downpour, on a hot and characteristically humid Savannah afternoon.
Inside, thousands of supporters filled out an arena usually reserved for minor league hockey games and concerts – taking up every last seat.
Harris, speaking after two days on a bus tour through south-east Georgia with her running mate, Tim Walz, said: “It’s good to be back in Savannah,” before jumping right into a stump speech that, while familiar, nonetheless kept the crowd’s attention for the entirety of her remarks.
Read the full story here:
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The Trump campaign has clarified that Donald Trump “has not yet said how he will vote” on an abortion amendment on the ballot in Florida this November.
Trump, in an interview with NBC News earlier today, was asked whether he would vote to repeal his home state’s six-week abortion ban that was signed into law by the Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, last year. Trump replied:
I think the six week is too short, there has to be more time … I’ve told them I want more weeks.
"I think the six week is too short, there has to be more time," former President Trump says how he'll vote on an abortion rights amendment in Florida. pic.twitter.com/rQAdPtW9i0
— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) August 29, 2024
According to a statement by Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary:
President Trump has not yet said how he will vote on the ballot initiative in Florida, he simply reiterated that he believes six weeks is too short.
Donald Trump is clearly still not over being called “weird”, instead accusing the Minnesota governor and Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Tim Walz, of the same label.
“He’s a weird guy,” Trump tells supporters at the town hall event in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Trump says his running mate, Ohio senator JD Vance, is also “not weird”.
He’s not weird and I’m not weird. I mean, we’re a lot of things, but that guy [Walz] is weird.
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Donald Trump’s “own platform could effectively ban [in vitro fertilization] and abortion nationwide”, a spokesperson for Kamala Harris’s campaign said in response to Trump’s latest IVF comments.
The Harris campaign statement continued:
Because Trump overturned Roe v. Wade, IVF is already under attack and women’s freedoms have been ripped away in states across the country. There is only one candidate in this race who trusts women and will protect our freedom to make our own health care decisions: Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Alabama state supreme court ruled earlier this year that embryos created via IVF were to be considered people. As a result, the state’s three major IVF providers paused services, as patients in Alabama reported that upcoming embryo transfers had been abruptly cancelled and their paths to parenthood put in doubt.
Alabama’s governor, Kay Ivey, then signed into law legislation that would shield IVF providers from the fallout of the court’s ruling.
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The head of Emily’s List, a group dedicated to electing Democratic candidates who support abortion rights, mocked Donald Trump’s comments that he wanted to make the government or insurance companies pay for in vitro fertilization treatments.
Jessica Mackler, the president of Emily’s List, said in a statement shared by NBC News:
Congratulations to Donald Trump for realizing that his position and his record on abortion are wildly unpopular, particularly with women who will decide this election.
She added:
But rather than give him credit for a disingenuous and unserious proposal that contradicts his own GOP platform, we’ll credit him for something he actually did: overturning Roe v Wade, ending abortion access for millions of women across the country, and jeopardizing reproductive freedom for all of us.
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Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman for Hawaii, starts off the town hall event by discussing her struggle to conceive a child through in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Donald Trump tells Gabbard that her situation sounds like “tough stuff” and that he is “very much for” IVF.
At a campaign event in Potterville, Michigan, earlier this evening, Trump said he would require the government or insurance companies to pay for IVF fertility treatments if he is elected in November.
In remarks likely aimed at appealing to women and suburban voters, Trump told supporters in Michigan:
Your government will pay for or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for all costs associated with IVF treatment fertilization for women.
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Donald Trump on stage at Wisconsin town hall event
Donald Trump is on stage, enjoying a prolonged standing ovation.
The former president will hear questions during a town hall event here in La Crosse, Wisconsin, which former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, will moderate.
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Ex-Democrat Tulsi Gabbard introduces Trump at town hall event
Tulsi Gabbard has taken the stage in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where she will moderate a town hall event with Donald Trump tonight, to wild applause.
“Two former Democratic candidates have endorsed Donald J Trump to be president of the United States,” said Gabbard, referring to herself and Robert F Kennedy Jr, who both endorsed Trump this week.
I am so excited about the opportunity that we have before us to stand together not as Democrats or Republicans, but as proud Americans who love this great country.
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Donald Trump’s supporters lined up for blocks to see the Republican presidential nominee at a town hall in La Crosse, Wisconsin, even as he was speaking at a campaign event in Michigan earlier.
I spoke with Michelle Thiessen, a 56-year-old nurse from the La Crosse area who said that her top issue is keeping the US out of foreign conflicts, and sees Trump as the candidate most likely to do that.
Abortion, she said, would be his toughest issue.
“Lots of women are flipping because of that,” said Thiessen, who supports abortion rights and said she does not believe Trump will allow for a nationwide ban.
Harris pledges to appoint a Republican to her cabinet
Kamala Harris promised to name a Republican to serve in her cabinet if elected.
In her first major interview since becoming the Democratic nominee, the vice-president told CNN journalist Dana Bash that she had spent her career “inviting diversity of opinion”. Harris said:
I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who was a Republican.
Earlier today, CNN released a first clip of the interview with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, in which the vice-president said that her values have not changed.
CNN journalist Dana Bash asked Harris what voters should make of the changes to some of her policy positions. Harris said:
Dana, I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed.
“You mentioned the Green New Deal. I have always believed that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time,” she said. “We did that with the Inflation Reduction Act.”
My value around what we need to do to secure our border – that value has not changed. I spent two terms as the attorney general of California prosecuting transnational criminal organizations, violations of American laws regarding the illegal passage of guns, drugs and human beings across our border. My values have not changed.
In an exclusive interview, CNN's Dana Bash presses Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris on why her policies have changed over the years. The full interview will air at 9 p.m. ET Thursday on CNN's "The First Interview: Harris & Walz, A CNN Exclusive."… pic.twitter.com/JYgHvcXZMd
— CNN (@CNN) August 29, 2024
Trump to answer questions in Wisconsin town hall event
There aren’t many open seats at the La Crosse Center, where Donald Trump is scheduled to answer questions at a town hall event moderated by former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard later this evening.
Gabbard, who announced her support for Trump this week, could earn Trump support from voters such as Melissa Nelson, an attendee sitting near me at the event in a Tulsi Gabbard for President T-shirt.
Nelson told me she voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary, supported Gabbard’s run in 2020, and is reluctantly throwing her support behind Trump this year.
“The Democratic Party is going downhill,” said Nelson, who cited healthcare and disability benefits as her top issues. Gabbard’s endorsement, Nelson said, “kind of pushed me over the edge, for sure, that I was gonna vote for Trump. Otherwise I would have voted for Jill Stein.”
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Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to give first major TV interview since nomination
Kamala Harris will give her first major interview since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee in a few hours – in what is being seen as a key test of her credibility after a prolonged honeymoon during which she surged ahead of Donald Trump in opinion polls.
She and her running mate, Tim Walz, will face CNN’s Dana Bash in a pre-recorded interview due to be aired at 9pm ET. It was scheduled following some criticism of Harris’s reluctance to expose herself to media scrutiny following her ascent to the top of the Democratic ticket last month in place of Joe Biden, who withdrew from the race on 21 July.
The US vice-president, who has had a variable performance in past televised one-on-ones, had previously pledged to hold a major interview before the end of August.
We’ll be covering the interview and bring you all the latest updates and reaction. So stay tuned.
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